Butcher&#39;s ice box



E. FRIEDRICH.

BUTCHERS ICE BOX. APPLICATION map MAY 28. 19 21.

a h w 9 R'C E 1 0 N ,H m w M f e w W mm J Jw M3 E n E. FRIEDRICH.

BUTCHERS ICE BOX.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, 1921.

Patented June 20, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

4 BY U/Lw ORNEYS E. FRIEDRICH.

BUTCHERS ICE BOX.

APPLICATION FILED MAY28, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

\ 4; v INVENTOR AT CEW Patented June 20, 1922.

LNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD FRIEDRICH, OF SAN ANTONIO,

BUTCHEBS ICE BOX.

To all "whom it may concern.

it lanown that I, EDWARD FRIEDRICH, a citizen of the United States,residing at flan Antonio, in the county of Eexar and FZ'ate of Texas,have invented arrow and nproved Butchefis Ice Box, of which the hearingis a specification. 'lhis invention generically comprehends a new andeffective method oi refrigeration, in which the parts are moreespecially designed l'or directing the circulation of air in an'nctirally dry state to ensure the maintenance of uniform temperaturewithin too container or goods holding compartment and in which the saidparts are especially well adapted tor use in connection with butchersice boxes, counter display retl'rigerators or refrigerator cars.

Another object of my invention is to provide a salt brine refrigeratingmeans for bi'ilchers i e boxes, display counter re- .iir' geral'ors andthe like, in which the cooled air is adapted tor being constantlymaintained in circulation within the goods container compartment, in asubstantially dry state, and the air, as the temperature thereofraise-1,. owing to its contact with the material within therefrigerating chamber, is can 1 ad to pass oaclt to the ice chest forre-cooling and so circulated that a much lower re'lrigeratingtemperature. with less consumption of ice, is had than is possible inthe regular forms of butcher and counter display refrigerators now ingeneral use.

ln its more completenature, my invention embodies in a refrigerator otthe general type stated. (K-Tl'tfiln teatu res of construction andcombination oi parts especially designed for a more economical use ofice for cooling the goods within the holding compartment or chamber ofthe refrigerator and tor establishing a constant circulation of the coldair through the ice container and the goods compartment tor repeatedlyreusing the same air without fresh air from the out :i de oi therefrigerator other than that which naturally finds its way into therei'rigerator.

With other minor objects in view, all of which will hereinafter be"fully stated, my invention consists of an improved construction ofbut/chefs ice box or refrigerator that embodies the novel features ofconstruction and detailed arrangement of parts Specification of Letters-Patent. Patented June 20, 1922 Application filed May 28, 192 1.

$eria1 H0. 473,425.

fully set out in the following description thereof, specificallymentioned in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, which show a preferred development of my invention, thedetails of which may be varied or modified to suit the specialapplication of my invention in connection with the different types ofbutchers ice box construction that constitutes the,

essential feature of this invention.

Figure 52 is a longitudinal section of the refrigerator, the aircirculation being in dicated by arrows.

lligure 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure l is an inverted perspective view of the bottom or" the icecontainer and the air cooling chest.

l igure is a detail perspective view, parts being in section, of thewater draining base that cooperates with the ice container and the aircooling chest, the same being shown in its operative position on thedrain platform located at one end of the refrigerator housing l igure 6is an inverted detail perspective view of one ot the individual draintrough units.

i igure 7 is a detail section that illustrates the cooperative relationof the perforated bottoms oi? the ice holding compartments and the brinedrip retaining troughs, hereinatter explained.

in. the drawings I have shownmy invention as embodied in connection witha butch e1"s ice box or coiniter display refrigerator, the same beingshown as an elongated body coniiposed of the usual panelled oppositesides 1-1 and opposite ends 2--2, a bottom 3 and a top 41, theconstruction of the walls of the said body, in practice, hav ing theusual insulation features, whereby to retain as much cold air aspossible inside of the refrigerator, it being understood that therefrigerator body or housing construction constitutes, per se, no partof my invention, which is confined to the peculiar construction andarrangement of the ice chest and the air cooling means hereinafterspecifically stated and best illustrated in Figures 2, 3 and 4 of thedrawings.

At one end the housing has a doorway 5 and near that end opposite thedoorway the housing top has a hinged lid 6 that covers an opening 60 inthe top for gaining access to the ice chest, as will presently furtherappear.

7'7 designate. hanger racks located along the opposite sides of thegoods containing compartment :12 of the refrigerator, as is clearlyshown in Figure 2 of the drawings, by reference to which it will also beob served, at that end opposite the doorway of the housing, is locatedthe ice chest and air cooling means, the special construction of whichforms the essential feature of this invention, as before stated.

The combined ice chest and air cooler 8 which, in practice, is made upof heavy sheet metal, includes opposite end walls 80. a back wall 81,and an open top 82 through which the ice is placed into the chest andwhich is normally closed by a removable cover 83 adapted for beingreadily lifted out through the lid covered opening 60 in the housingtopwhen the lid 6 is thrown back.

The ice chest, the construction of which is best shown in Figures 2. 3and 4:, is composed of a substantially rectangular shaped sheet metalbody that includes a series of alternately positioned. air chambers 4Land ice containers 9, and the said chambers L and containers 9 extendvertically the full height of the chest body, as is clearly shown inFigure 2.

The aforesaid alternately positioned air chambers 4. and ice. containers9 are substantially wedge shaped in horizontal section and the said airchambers and ice containers are further alternately disposed by reasonof the larger ends of the air chambers 4;. which open through the innerwall of the chest body, being located adjacent the smaller closed endsof the ice containers 9 whose larger ends are closed by the back'wallS1. and are disposed between the smaller ends of the air chambers 4. aswill be readily understood by reference to Figure 3. I

Referring now-more particularly to Fig; ure 4 of the drawings it will beobserved the substantially wedge shaped {ilr spaces or chambers 4;,whose smaller ends terminate at the back wall '8]. of the chest 8,alternate with a like-shaped set of vertically disposed ice compartments9 which extend the full height of the said chest 8, the said ice holdingcompartments having their larger ends adjacent the back wall 8]. andnext the smaller ends of the air compartments and the smaller ends ofthe said ice container compartments are closed as at 90 and locatedbetween the larger ends of the said air cooling compartments 4.

The several sets of alternately arranged air cooling compartments andice holding chambers may be formed in any suitable way, but on accountof economy of structure and rigidity of the parts, I prefer to form eachair chamber of a single sheet of gal vanized iron that is bent into asubstantially wedge shaped in horizontal section, whose smaller end issoldered, or otherwise rigidly secured to the pendent front member 10 ofthe housing 8.

The spread ends of each metal sheet of which the icecompartments areformed are turned in at right angles to form flanges 11 and theseflanges are soldered, or otherwise made fast, to the back wall 81 andthe top of the spaces between each adjacent pair of substantially wedgeshaped ice holding compartments is closed by a like member i l,

the several members l l constituting the top for the air compartments 4:located between each pair of ice compartments and which open through thefront wall of the combined ice holding and air cooling chest, as shown.

The air receiving and cooling spaces are each divided into a tier ofvertically aligned air spaces, by the horizontal division plates 15,which are so shaped that they extend back the full length of the saidair spaces, from the open front end of the chest to the back wall 81thereof, and the'said wall constitutes the back end of all of the tiersof air cooling spaces. The back wall. 81, as is clearly shown in Figure2, has a series of air passages 85 which. in the practical developmentof my invention are preferably 1% inches in diameter.

The divisions 15. before referred to, incline downwardly from the backwall to the front open end of the chest for reasons presently explained.i

The lowermost tier of air spaces or compartments and the icecompartments are closed by a series of plates 16 which are bounded attheir opposite sides by pendent vertical flange projections 16 wherebyto provide a series of alternately and inwardly directed. fan shapedgrooves 17 along the bottom of the chest 8. the alternate ones of thebottom members 16 that constitute the closures for the. ice chamber eachhaving a series of apertures 18 through whicl'i the drippings from theice compartment drop.

The back ends of the grooves on the under side of the chest 8 are closedby the bottom edge of the back wall 81, as shown, and at the oppositeends the bottom of the chest has bifurcated members 202(l which areprovided for interlockably engaging stout pipe supports 21-21 forsustaining the bottom of the chest above a supplemental bottom, the

construction of which is best shown in Figure 5. and whose purpose willbe hereinafter stated. in the practical use of my construction ofrefrigerator so far as described, the ice chest is filled with crushedice and salt, and in a refrigerator proportioned along the lines shownin the drawings, 8 pounds of salt are recuiired for each 100 pounds ofice, the latter being supplied in a crushed condition, through theopening in the to ll of the housing and into the open top of the chest 8the ice holding compartments are filled and the tops thereof and thetops of the air spaces or compartments are cov ered with ice.

The supplemental bottom before referred to consists of a stout pipeframe which includes a series of standards 25 that connect at theirupper ends with a rectangular shaped. horiaontal'frame portion. the endsupports 2l--2l of which constitute the supports engaged by thebifurcated members 20 on the bottom. of the chest 8. as beforementioned.

The several standards 25 also serve as supports for transverse front andback rods 526-27. the purpose "of which will be best understood. byreference to Figures :3 and 6. which show sheet metal bottom members32-32 on the top of which are secured fan shaped troughs 33 which areseparated by like air shaped passages 134-434. the troughs i553 and theair passages 3 1- alternatingr. the troughs 33 being; adapted forcooperating with the apertured bottoms of the ice compartments and intowhich the drippingrs from the said compartments gather and overflow at35 into a transversely disposed trough 36 common to all of the troughsand which is formed in the inner end of a platform 37 upon which thesupplemental bottom is supported when the parts are assembled for use.as clearly shown in Figure 2.

The sheet metal bottom members 32 incl ine downwardly from the back tothe front end to cause the dripping's to pass out over the front ends ofthe trough 33 into the trough 36. before referred to. and whichdischarges through an oiftake pipe 38 that passes to the outside of thehousing. as shown.

From the foregoing; description taken in connection with the drawings.the complete construction. the manner of use and the adrantages of myimproved form of refrigerator will be readily apparent to those familiarwith the use and the manufacture of refrigerators of the general typeshown and described.

By reason of alternately arranging the air and ice chambers 4t and 9 inthe manner de scribed and best shown in Figure 3. that is. with thesmaller or contracted ends of the air chambers 4 adjacent the largerends of the ice chambers 9. the air that enters the chambers 4. throughthe apertures in the back wall 81.. at the smaller ends of the saidchambers e. spreads as it passes to the front end of the said chambers land is thus subjected to constantly cooling action as it circulates overand between the adjacent iced walls of the pairs of opposite icecompartments 9, it being understood the warm air within the goodsholding compartment of the reii'rigerator is constantly kept in motionand drawn back over the ire chest (see arrows on Figure 2) down back ofthe wall 81 and constantly returns through the ice chest into thecompartment X. the said air being recooled as it passes through thespaces 4f. the arrangement of the parts stated tending to effect acontinuous circulation and recooling; of the air and in such manner thata practical refrigeration of the articles within the goods holding;compartment X is provided for.

Fiu'thermore. after the air passes into the storage spa-"e that thecompartment in which the perishables are kept) there must be a system toagain bring the cold air. which eventually gets warmer. back through theice tank chambers for recoolingr. As. naturally. the warm air risestmvard the ceil ing of the housing. the storage compartment equippedwith a supplemental or blind top 40 which extends horizontally from thetop of the chest 8 to near the doorway end of the housing. This blindtop l0 provides a return warmed air route for the air within the storagecompartment and thereby causes the warmed air to take the courseindicated by the arrows on Figure 2 from the storage chamber over andarour d the back and side walls of the chest 8 and to return directlythrough the air passages 85 in the back wall 81 of the chest. throughthe cold air spaces t, the downwardly inclined. horizontal partitioncausing the air. that returns through the apertures 85 at the back orcontracted ends of the air chambers 4-. to pass through separatehorizontal ducts to the compartment as indicated by the arrows on Fig.2-ure 2. by reference to which it will be noticed that such of the returnair that may pass down to the bottom of the back of the chest 8 returnsthrough the supplemental air channels ill-434- at the bottom back intothe storage chamber thereby creating a continuous circulation throughthe interior of the refrigerator.

lt should be mentioned that in my constrnction of refrigerator onlycracked ice mixed with 8 per cent of salt is placed in the ice spaces ofthe ice chest and air cooling casing and the brine as it collects in thesaid ice spaces drips through. the perforations in the bottoms of thesaid ice holders or saaces.

The perforations in the bottoms of the air circulation as the said airpasses from the back end of the ice chest under the ice chest andreturns to the 'efrigerating compartment. It is a provcn fact that icesimply laying flatwise on a platform in ice box will not produce colddry air, By my system, as before explained and shownin the drawings, thewarmer up draft air and the colder down dra'l t air carried through therefrigerator, as hereinbefore explained, produces a cold dry air,instead of a saturated or wet air, as is usual in refrigerator systemsin which the air is passed directly over the ice.

In my construction o1 refrigerator suliicient fresh air supply ismaintained. by air sucked in through the cracks around the top cover 6,which latter fits the opening 60 loosely.

Vi hat I claim is Tl. Tn a butchers ice box of the character stated, acombined ice holding and air cooling chest having a series of:alternately disposed vertical spaces, one set of the said spaces formingair chambers, one end ot each of which. chambers is open the toll heightthereof, the other end of which has a series or air passages whereby toprovide for the tree circulation of the air, in horizontal direction,throughthe said air chambers, the other set of chambers extendingsubstantially the full height ot the chest and open at the top'ot thechest for the reception of ice, the said ice and air chambers beingsubstantially wedge shaped in horizontal section and alternatelydisposed, relatively to each other, whereby the wide ends of the airchambers are disposed between the narrow ends of adjacent pairs of icechambers and the wider ends of the ice holders are likewise locatedbetween the narrow ends of adjacent pairs 01" air chain here, the bottomof the ice holders having apertures, a platform on which the chestrests, supports tor holding the bottom of the chest above theplattornn'aml alternately disposed sets of troughs and air spaceslocated on the platform under the troughs and air spaces beingsubstantially wedge shaped in horizontal planes.

2. In a refrigerator, a combined ice and air cooling chest consisting ofa series of alternately disposed vertical chambers, one

air and ice chambers of the chest, the said 1 ,aaopes set of the saidchambers forming air spaces that are in open communication with thestorage compartment and the other set of chambers being open through thetop of the chest and constituting the ice and salt receptacles, thestorage compartment having provision for delivering the ice and saltinto the said ice chambers, the said ice and air chambers beingsubstantially wedge shaped in horizontal section, the airchamhers beingdisposed with their wide ends in communicationwith the s oragecompartment, the ice chambers having their wide ends disposed betweenthe narrow or innermost ends of the said ice chambers and their narrowand closed ends located be tween the wide ends of the air chambers, thesaid several vertically disposed air chamhers being each divided by aSeries of horizontal division members that incline from the inner orrear ends of the said air chambers to the front end of said chambers,the bottom of the ice chambers having drip apertures through which thebrine that accumulates in the said ice chambers escapes, and means forcollecting the brine that passes from the gutters and discharging thesame externally of the refrigerator.

In a refrigerator, a combined ice and air cooling chest consisting of aseries of alternately disposed vertical chambers, one set of the saidchambers forming air passages that are in constant open communicationwith the Storage compartment and the other set of chambers being openthrough the top of the chest and constituting provision {or deliveringthe ice and salt into the said ice chambers, the said ice chambers andair passages being substantially Wedge shape in horizontal section, theair chamhers being disposed with their ends in com munic-ation with thestorage compartment, the ice chambers having their wide ends disposedbetween the narrow or innermost ends of the said ice chambers and theirnarrow and closed ends located between the Wide ends of the airchambers, said ice chambers having brine outlets in their bottoms, asupplemental bottom on which the chest is supported having alternatelydisposed substantially wedge shape passages and like shaped troughs, thetroughs being adapted to receive the drippings from the ice chambers andthe passages serving as air ducts through which portions oil therccooled air passes into the storage compartment, and a platform uponwhich the supplemental bottom rests, the said platform having atransverse trough into which all of thedrip collecting troughs overflow,and an ofttake from the said trough through the Wall of the refrigeratorhousing.

4L. In a refrigerator of the character described, a housing having astorage compartment provided with a doorway at one end, a combined iceholding and air cooling chest adjacent the other end of the saidcompartment, the lopoi the said chest being disposed below the top ofthe housing, the latter having a door closed opening abc c the chest, asupplemental inside top projected forwardly from the top of the chest tonear the door end of the storage campartment whereby to provide a warmair passage under the ceiling of the housing and above and beyond thechest, the said chest having alternately disposed ice and air spacesextending the full height thereof, the air spaces being closed at thetop, bottom, the sides, and. having the inner ends open the full heightto the storage compartment, the ice spaces being open at the top for thereception of the ice and salt and supported above the bottom of thestorage compartment, the bottom of the ice spaces having drip outletsthat also con stitute brine passages, all being arranged sub stantiallyas shown, whereby the warm air as it accumulates within the storagecom-- partment and naturally rises to the ceiling is drawn off over thesupplemental top, over the top and back and under the chest back in are-cooled condition into the storage compartment.

5. In a refrigerator of the character stated, a combined ice holder andair cooler comprising a sheet metal body including opposite sides and aback wall that merges with the said sides, a series of partitions eachformed of a sheet metal member bent upon itself into a substantiallywedge shape in horizontal section. the ends of the opposing bentportions of the partitions being fixedly attached to the back wall ofthe metal body and extended from the lower edge to near the top edge ofthe opposite sides of the aforesaid body whereby to provide alternatesubstantially wedge shaped vertical ice receivers and interveningvertically extended air spaces, the latter opening through the front ofthe combined ice holder and air cooling body, the back wall of the saidbody having passages that open into the aforesaid vertical air spaces,horizontal partitions in the air spaces that divide such spaces into aseries of horizontal ducts, the lowermost one of said partitionsconstituting a closed bottom for the air spaces and perforatedpartitions that constitute the bottoms for the ice holding spaces.

6. In a refrigerator of the character stated, a combined ice holder andair cooler comprising a sheet metal body including opposite sides and aback wall that merges with the said sides, a series of partitions eachformed of a sheet metal member bent upon itself into a substantiallywedge shape in horizontal section, the ends of the opposing bentportions of the partitions being fixedly attached to the back wall ofthe metal body and extended from the lower edge to near the top edge ofthe opposite sides of the aforesaid body whereby to provide alternatesubstantially wedge shaped vertical ice receivers and interveningvertically extended air spaces, the latter opening through the front ofthe combined ice holder and air cooling body, the back wall of the saidbody having passages that open into the aforesaid vertical air spaces,horizontal partitions in the said air spaces that divide such spacesinto a series of horizontal ducts, the lowermost oneof said partitionsconstituting a closed bottom for the air spaces, perforated partitionsthat constitute the bottoms for the ice holding spaces, the lower edgesof the bent portions extending below the bottom horizontal partitions ofthe ice holding and air spaces to thereby provide channels or passagesunder the said ice holding and cool ing spaces.

7. In a refrigerator of the character stated, a combined ice holder andair cooler comprising a sheet metal body including opposite sides and, aback wall that merges with the said sides, a series of partitions eachformed of a sheet metal member bent upon itself into a substantiallywedge shape in horizontal section, the ends of the opposing bentportions of the partitions being fixedly attached to the back wall ofthe metal body and extended from the lower edge to near the top edge ofthe opposite sides of the aforesaid body whereby to provide alternatesubstantially wedged shaped vertical ice receivers and interveningvertically extending air spaces, the latter opening through the front ofthe combined ice holder and air cooling body, the back wall of the saidbody having passages that open into the aforesaid vertical air spaces,horizontal partitions in the said air spaces that divide such spacesinto a series of horizontal ducts, the lowermost one of said partitionsconstituting a closed bottom for the air spaces, perforated partitionsthat constitute the bottoms for the ice holding spaces, the lower edgesof the bent portions extending below the bottom horizontal partitions ofthe ice holding and air spaces tothereby provide chann els or passagesunder the said ice holding and cooling spaces, a platform havingalternately disposed air passages and fluid troughs, the body having theair and ice holding spaces having means at the lower edge for sustainingthe said body with the air passages on the bottom in register with theair passages and fluid troughs on the platform.

8. In a refrigerator of the character stated, a combined ice chest andair cooler located within the said compartment near one end thereof, asupplemental ceiling for the storage chamber that extends from the topof the combined ice chest and air cooler to near the end of the storagecompartment horizontal tiers of chambers, the back Wall of the ice chestcooler having passages that open into the air spaces for the return ofthe 10 Warm air through the horizontal ducts of the air chambersinto thestorage compartment.

EDWARD FRIEDRICH.

